Michigan Is One of the Best States for Nurses, Except for This One Thing

No matter how the economy is doing, it seems the health care industry continues to grow. One can easily guess that being a doctor is a good job, but what about a career in nursing?

Judging by salary alone, Michigan nurses are among the highest paid in the nation, but the work environment rank is near the bottom of the survey. Personal finance website WalletHub looked at 21 metrics across all 50 states and the District of Columbia to rank 2019's Best and Worst States for Nurses. Even though the state ranks second only to Nevada in wages, Michigan came out 43rd in the work environment category to pull the average down to #33 of 51.

Compensation is pretty self-explanatory, but the quality and tuition of nursing schools, job openings and projected competition for jobs were all calculated, with Michigan ranking #2 in the category. Conversely, job growth, the average number of work hours and mandatory overtime restrictions plus the ratio of nurses to hospital beds were factors in the work environment category that dragged Michigan's average down.

So it seems that, like nearly any other job, you have to take the good with the bad and work hard to be paid well.